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Magazine
In the July 6 SN: Celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11, stone tool dates face scrutiny, ocean plastic goes deep, records of Inca taxation, erosion spurred plate tectonics and more.
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News
How worm blobs behave like a liquid and a solid
01/11/2019 - 13:11 Animals, BiophysicsTAMPA, Fla. — Blobs of worms flow like a fluid, plop like a solid and fascinate scientists.
A worm by itself is as solid as any other living animal. But a mass of aquatic California blackworms tangled together flows through a tube like a liquid. Pouring, heating and otherwise playing with blobs of worms shows that a tangled mass of them has properties of both fluids and solids, Saad...
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News in Brief
How some sap-sucking insects fling their pee
12/04/2018 - 06:00 BiophysicsSome sap-sucking insects can “make it rain,” flinging droplets of pee while feeding on plant juices. Now scientists have explained how the insects, known as sharpshooters, create these sprays using tiny catapult-like structures that propel the waste at extreme accelerations.
A tree infested with sharpshooters exudes a steady pitter-patter of pee. “It’s crazy just to look at,” says...
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News
Zapping substances with electrons can quickly map chemical structures
10/29/2018 - 06:00 Chemistry, BiophysicsThe one-hour photo booth has met its molecular match.
By adapting a technique for determining protein structures, two independent teams have charted chemical structures of antibiotics, hormones and other compounds with unprecedented speed. Depending on the molecule, it took between 30 minutes and a day to determine structures, where traditional techniques could take months to years.
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News in Brief
T. rex pulverized bones with an incredible amount of force
10/22/2018 - 08:00 Paleontology, Animals, BiophysicsALBUQUERQUE — Tyrannosaurus rex had a special way of crunching bones.
A lethal combination of a powerful bite, strong teeth and repeated crunching allowed these giant predators to pulverize the bones of their prey, researchers reported October 20 at the Society for Vertebrate Paleontology’s annual meeting.
Bones have a nutritious inner cavity containing marrow and phosphate salts....
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Science Visualized
Dandelion seeds create a bizarre whirlpool in the air to fly
10/17/2018 - 13:00 Biophysics, PlantsWhen you’re essentially a little ball of floof, flying is hard.
To ride the wind, dandelion seeds stir up a weird type of whirlpool in the air directly above them. The newly discovered way of moving through the air, described October 17 in Nature, resolves a long-standing question about how the seeds stay aloft.
Dandelion seed flight is not unlike the flight of Mary Poppins:...